Kylie Minogue – Aphrodite

“Dance, it’s all I wanna do so won’t you dance” starts off the album from “All the Lovers”.

Considerably less stripped down when compared to X. Aphrodite has less reliance on electropop and synthpop. Focusing more on the dance and pop, and doing it well. It feels like it works well as an entity, and is more down to earth. Aphrodite is her first album to have an executive producer (along with the co-producers), Stuart Price in this case, as opposed to many single producers.

Kylie recorded the album all over the world, however the other producers sent their material to the studio where Kylie and Stuart Price worked together in New York. As he has additional production credit on some tracks. This was to indeed make it one cohesive album.

Aphrodite is an album Kylie feels strongly about, “there’s a feeling of euphoria on this one”. And it is an album she also quite enjoyed making.

Aphrodite is Kylie’s 11th album overall, and 5th since, and including Light Years. Surprisingly though, her biggest gap between albums is four years, so she has been consistently releasing music even if for a while in the 90s it has been largely under the radar. The four year gap was between Body Language and X, for good reason, as she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005.

Upbeat and positive. “Get Outta My Way” sounds like she should be asking to be hugged instead, in that she sounds very happy when singing. Also slated as being the second single.

“Closer” does have an electro/synth backing, and has a climactic beginning, and feels tense during, almost like eagerly awaiting something to happen in an action movie. “Everything Is Beautiful” is well titled, and feels dreamy (“And now I’m traveling at such blissful speed, No need to think” & “‘Cause if I lie with you long enough I can see the things I’m dreamin’ of at this velocity”). “Too Much” may be the track that feels most like a throwback track, yet the chorus is very catchy. Definitely worthy of being released as a single. Kylie herself, Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters, and Calvin Harris wrote the track while Harris produced it.

The lead single, and track that leads off Aphrodite, “All the Lovers” was written by Kish Mauve (Jim Eliot, Mima Stilwell), and produced by them, (Stuart Price credited with additional production duties). The leadoff single and first track from X, “2 Hearts”, was a cover of the Kish Mauve track. Despite this, they are two quite different tracks. And worth noting, the title track “Aphrodite”, along with “Better than Today” are co-written by U.K. singer/songwriter Nerina Pallot, along with her husband Andy Chatterley.